Paint kit



June 4, 1968 J. |RELAND 3,386,792

PAINT KIT Filed Aug. 23. 1965 United States Patent 3,386,792 PAINT KIT James Marshall Ireland, 401 Mercedes Ave.,

Pasadena, Calif. 91107 Filed Aug. 23, 1965, Scr. No. 481,754 3 Claims. (Cl. 401-40) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A touch-up paint kit to provide a bead of plastic paintlike substance for application to cover a chipped or otherwise uncovered area of a painted surface, such kit comprising a generally tubular container of solvent, such container having at least part of one wall inwardly displaceable and an exit passage at one end, and an impervious wall at the other end of the container, a brush disposed in the exit passage and a solid body of pigment base and binder in a receptacle detachably secured to the end of the tubular container having such impervious wall.

This invention relates to a novel method and kit for touching up chipped or otherwise uncovered small areas of a painted surface, and has particular application to touching up painted automobile body surfaces.

Despite the efforts of automobile manufacturers to provide excellent chip or scratch-resistant painted surfaces of automobile bodies, the average car owner sooner or later finds that the body of his car acquires chipped or scratched areas as a result of its being struck by flying pebbles and careless openings of the doors of adjacent cars in parking lots or garages and by brushing contacts with other objects. In some instances the automobile sales or service agency may be willing to provide a small bottle of paint which matches the color of the painted surface of the purchasers car, so that when minor body chips or scratches occur, the car owner may attempt to brush on some of this paint upon the chipped or scratched areas. However, such brushing on of paint thus provided is usually not too satisfactory, since the chipped or scratched area may have acquired dirt or other foreign matter which prevents the adhering of the new paint to the uncovered area of the body surface.

In addition, the car owner will soon find that his bottle of paint thickens or hardens due to the inevitable evaporation of the solvent component of the paint. If the bottle is kept so tightly capped that escape of the solvent is largely prevented, it will usually be found that the paint tends to freeze the threading between the cap and the container, so that it becomes virtually impossible to uncap the bottle.

.I have overcome these difficulties and problems by a novel method and a kit, whereby my method may be easily practiced. In essence, this method comprises providing a solid body of pigment and binder or fixed vehicle, from which all thinner or solvent has been evaporated. This solid body may be readily contained in a small cylindrical or other type of container. In addition, I provide in a separate container a quantity of thinner or solvent. By taking a brush-type applicator, saturating it with solvent, and then inserting it into the solid body of pigmented binder, I, in effect, reconstitute the paint into a liquid or plastic form to the point where a drop or bead of this paint may be developed on the tip of the brush. This bead is then applied to the uncovered area of the painted surface and worked with the brush into the surrounding edges of the paint.

My novel kit has been developed to bring together in a single convenient unit the containers for both the solvent and the solid body, as well as the brush by which the solvent and pigmented binder are reconstituted as a paint and applied in the manner herein described.

My invention may be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment of my novel kit.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view in perspective of the components which comprise the kit of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates the manner in which the solventsoaked brush may be worked into the solid body.

FIG. 4 illustrates the removal of a drop or bead of dissolved paint from the solid body of pigment; and

FIG. 5 illustrates the manner in which the drop or bead of reconstituted paint is applied to the scratched surface.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, it-may be seen that the central element of the kit is an elongated frustoconical container 10 which is hollowed at it enlarged base 12 to receive a quantity of thinner or solvent 14, held therein by means of a capping cylindrical insert 15. The narrow end of the container 10 is provided with a small passage 16, which extends through the upper end 18. In this upper end 18 is imbedded a brush 20, the base 21 of which actually extends into the passage 16. The brush 20 tapers outwardly from the end 18 to form an angularly pointed tip 22. The end 18 of the container 10 may be provided with a threaded portion 24 over which may be secured a cap 26 to cover the brush 20 and to close the passage 16 to prevent escape of the solvent 14.

The base 12 of the container 10 may be provided with a threaded periphery 28 which receives the mating internal thread 29 in a coaxial extension 30 of the cylindrical wall 31 which, with a transverse wall 31a forms a container 32. This container 32 may be filled with a solid body 33 of a pigment and hinder or a fixed vehicle.

When it is desired to practice my novel method and to use the kit thus described and illustrated, the container 32 is unscrewed from the threaded periphery 28 of the base 12 of the container 10 to expose the face of the body 33. The cap 26 is removed from the end 18 of the container, and the container is turned upside down so that the solvent 14 may flow through the passage 16 and through the base 21 of the brush 20.

The bottom wall 34 of the capping cylindrical insert 15 is preferably of the depressable type such as may be found in an oil can. By the application of thumb pressure to the wall 34 a quantity ofsolvent 14 is impelled through the passage 16 and into the brush 20. When the brush has been thus saturated, it may be hand worked into the body 33 of the pigment and binder until a portion of this body becomes plasticized and is picked up as a liquid or plastic drop 35 upon the tip 22 of the brush 20.

The concave area 36 of the container is provided to enable the user better to hold the container during this operation of working the brush into the pigment and binder body 33 and then applying the drop to the chipped or otherwise uncovered area 38 of the painted surface 40. The body 33 is of a color which matches the paint of the chipped surface. After the head or drop 35 has been developed upon the tip 22 of the brush 20, it is then deposited upon the chipped area 38 of the painted surface 40. At this time the brush, which also carries some solvent, is worked into the surrounding edges 42 of the painted surface to the point where these edges, upon'the application of the fresh solvent, themselves begin to plasticize. Thereupon the thus deposited bead 35 is smoothed over to integrate with these dissolved edges, and the brush is withdrawn.

Upon evaporation of the thinner or solvent, it will be found that the chipped area has been covered with paint in such a manner as to be practically indistinguishable from the surrounding unchipped area or surface.

The container 10 may be made of either metal or plastic material, the only prerequisite for the material being that it is unreactive to the particular thinner or solvent which is to be contained therein. It is, of course, an object in the selection of the material for the container that it be capable of being manufactured cheaply.

It is also contemplated that my item may be provided with a decal or other marking advertising the name of the car vendor, service station or other establishment having some possible or desired relationship to the owners car. I would contemplate that an automobile sales agency might give or sell a kit of this type to the car owner at the time he purchases his car, although the item could be marketed by an automotive or paint supply store.

In certain instances the kit might also include a container of a filler, such as putty, for cases where the scratched or chipped area may be deep. The filler container may be of the same type as the body container 32 and provided with threading to be screwed on to the end of the container 32 at a further cylindrical addition.

While I have illustrated the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will readily occur to those skilled in the art from my teaching herein described and illustrated, that the kit may take many difierent forms to utilize my teachings. All of these variant forms, however, will be considered to fall within the scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. A touch-up paint kit, said kit being particularly adapted to provide a bead of plastic paint-like substance for application to cover a chipped or otherwise uncovered area of a painted surface, said kit comprising:

(a) a generally tubular container, said container being closed at a first end by an impervious wall, at least part of said impervious wall of the container being inwardly displaceable, and said container having a passage at its other and second end through which liquid may be ejected in preselected quantities upon the inward displacement of the displaceable part of said one wall of the container; said container being filled with a solvent for a preselected pigment base and binder;

(b) a brush, said brush being disposed at the said second end of said container to receive solvent being ejected through said passage, and said brush having a substantially pointed tip projecting from said second end of the container; and

(c) a solid body of said preselected pigment base and binder, said solid body being formed by depositing liquid paint in a receptacle and causing the solvent in said paint to evaporate from the paint to leave a hardened solid body of pigment and binder in said receptacle, said receptacle being detachably secured to said first end of said tubular container.

2. The kit as described in claim 1, wherein a removable cap is provided to cover the projecting tip of said brush and to close the passage of the solvent container when the kit is not in use.

3. The kit as described in claim 1, wherein the said receptacle is detachably disposed in coaxial alignment with said first end of the tubular container with said body of pigment base and binder confronting the said impervious wall closing the said first end of the tubular con- CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

R. I. SMITH, Examiner. 

